Add a Comment
Email This
Statistics
The OER
I forgot to add this in. EP, to borrow Brandon's excellent acronym, has made its way into the military big-time. The OER, Officer Evaluation Report, has a part on the bottom for an officer's senior rater (for a Lt., it's a Lt. Col., generally your battalion commander) to rank you. It's forced distribution, a great idea introduced to mandate some honesty into inflated OERs (the majority of which contain narrative sections in which your primary rater and senior rater wax eloquent about how you're the next Alexander the Great).
In the blocks, the senior rater must classify the rated officer as "Above Center of Mass" or "Center of Mass" (or two below center of mass rankings never used unless someone has screwed up big and gotten a DUI, and even not sometimes then). Only 49% or less of the officers the SR rates can be in the "Above Center of Mass" category, and the others are center of mass. This is tracked by the Dept. of the Army and the SR gets in big trouble if he busts his senior rater profile by ranking 50% or more of his officers "Above Center of Mass"
Great idea, right? Well, in 2004, the Army decided to stop using this blocking system for lieutenants and captains. So now everybody's great, which means nobody is great.
I had three OERs under the blocking system before they quit using it. The first two were center of mass. In those counseling sessions, my senior rater gave me some semblance of me why I didn't get above center of mass and what I had to work on.
After the change, none of my senior raters ever gave me any feedback or constructive criticism, other than "you're doing a great job, Mark, keep it up (let me glad-hand you out of my office so I can get back to work)."
Number one, the blocking system forced the SR to be honest, at least about half his officers. That in turn forced him to justify it to the rated officer why he was or wasn't above center of mass. From that counseling, an officer had tangible areas of improvement and could adjust his performance accordingly.
With the blocking system gone, SRs are prone to give into their instinct of not wanting to be a bad guy, and blow sunshine up everyone's butt. "You're all great, keep it up." Sounds like that youth soccer coach, doesn't it?
RSS
West Point and the Army
The problem we're talking about is unrealistic expectations. Just like porn gives young men unrealistic expectations about women and sex, constantly telling kids they're special makes them believe it.
The world is a hard place, and it's competitive. Soccer games without keeping score might seem nice but it does the kids a disservice by making them think that hard work and competition are irrelevant, and that having fun or how you play the game is the object.
After four years at West Point, constantly being told that the Army was the greatest organization in the world, that we cadets were special, and that soldiers were the greatest people I'd ever have the privilege to lead, I was inevitably let down on all fronts. The top 10% of officers chosen to teach and lead us at West Point were not representative of the average and "bottom 10%" officers I worked under and with in the Army. The Army, like every organization, was not perfect. And a large number of soldiers do stupid things, are in for the wrong reasons, and are not all a privilege to lead.
On balance, the Army's a good organization, and its officers and soldiers are true blue Americans and great folks. But I had grown to expect so much more that I was disappointed (and I had even spent 2 years as an enlisted soldier)!
The Academy's way of developing its future officers is like porn- you think this thing you're looking forward to is awesome and devoid of negative aspects. In reality, it is a great thing but it has its flaws. Some people quickly accept these flaws and do well in Army careers (or never buy the BS to begin with and thus have realistic expectations going into it). Alas, I was not one of those people.
My unmet expectations were the main factor in my leaving the Army at the first possible opportunity for the business world, a place I believe in and like, but I knew to have many flaws as well.
I'm too idealistic. You other officers did this expectation game have anything to do with your decision to stay in or get out?
View Full Discussion